towards the interior of the island, the traveller will notice that the
land rises rapidly, and after three hours' walking over tortuous paths
obstructed by great masses of rock and sometimes cut by ravines, he will
find himself on the border of a great mâquis. The mâquis is the domain of
the Corsican shepherds and of those who are at variance with justice. It
must be known that, in order to save himself the trouble of manuring his
field, the Corsican husbandman sets fire to a piece of woodland. If the
flame spread farther than is necessary, so much the worse! In any case he
is certain of a good crop from the land fertilized by the ashes of the
trees which grow upon it. He gathers only the heads of his grain, leaving
the straw, which it would be unnecessary labor to cut. In the following
spring the roots that have remained in the earth without being destroyed
send up their tufts of sprouts, which in a few years reach a height of
seven or eight feet. It is this kind of tangled thicket that is called a
mâquis. They are made up of different kinds of trees and shrubs, so
crowded and mingled together at the caprice of nature that only with an
axe in hand can a man open a passage through them, and mâquis are
frequently seen so thick and bushy that the wild sheep themselves cannot
penetrate them.

If you have killed a man, go into the mâquis of Porto-Vecchio. With a good
gun and plenty of powder and balls, you can live there in safety. Do not
forget a brown cloak furnished with a hood, which will serve you for both
cover and mattress. The shepherds will give you chestnuts, milk and
cheese, and you will have nothing to fear from justice nor the relatives
of the dead except when it is necessary for you to descend to the city to
replenish your ammunition.

When I was in Corsica in 18--, Mateo Falcone had his house half a league
from this mâquis. He was rich enough for that country, living in noble